EFFECT OF INTERFERON THERAPY IN A PATIENT WITH CHRONIC ACTIVE HEPATITIS TYPE-C ASSOCIATED WITH INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONIA AND RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - A CASE-REPORT
T. Kurihara et al., EFFECT OF INTERFERON THERAPY IN A PATIENT WITH CHRONIC ACTIVE HEPATITIS TYPE-C ASSOCIATED WITH INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONIA AND RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - A CASE-REPORT, Clinical therapeutics, 16(6), 1994, pp. 1028-1035
Interferon (IFN) is widely used to treat patients with chronic hepatit
is types B and C but has been found to occasionally aggravate rheumato
id arthritis (RA) or cause interstitial pneumonia. We administered 6 M
IU/d IFN-beta by intravenous injection for 6 weeks to a 55-year-old ma
n with chronic active hepatitis type C associated with RA and intersti
tial pneumonia. Transaminase levels rapidly returned to normal after t
reatment and hepatitis C virus-RNA (nested RT-PCR method) was negative
on completion of treatment. No significant adverse reactions or aggra
vation of RA or interstitial pneumonia occurred. These findings sugges
t that use of IFN-beta in the treatment of patients with chronic hepat
itis type C associated with RA and/or interstitial pneumonia presents
no problem if appropriate precautions are taken.